When visiting different web sites that require setting up accounts, it is typically necessary to retype a user's profile information at each site. The sites also retain copies of user's personal identity information (PII) which makes such information vulnerable to hackers or those who seek to unlawfully obtain the personal information of others. If a user wishes to modify the user's information, the user must visit each site to make necessary changes in the user's PII at each site. Further, once entered, the PII is often difficult to remove from a web site.
Currently, solutions exist that allow users to place their information on trusted third-party “passport-type” servers, but this still puts the PII in the hands of a third-party.
Many companies have stopped promoting general passport services due to security issues.
Thus, there is a need to provide a solution that allows a user to easily but securely create and maintain the user's personal identity information for use in providing such information to selected web sites while substantially decreasing the risk of unauthorized acquision of the user's personal identity information from such websites.